


Eyes Of Fire

by NotRyanRoss



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Angst, M/M, Mild Language, psychadellic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-31
Updated: 2015-08-31
Packaged: 2018-04-18 06:48:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4696205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotRyanRoss/pseuds/NotRyanRoss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(Written a couple years ago.)<br/>If your other half is dead, what do you do? You drag them back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eyes Of Fire

** -BEGIN ACT 1 PART 1- **

****

**_### ####_ **

_Dave._

_John._

_Which was dead, and which was alive?_

 

“Are you sure about this?”

 

Her voice was wavering, unsure. You nodded. She gave you a half-hearted smile, her green eyes hiding an imperceptible darkness as she stepped closer to you, a tan hand landing on your shoulder. You look aside, searching. The other one shifted, her dark lips curved down into a frown. She looked worried. What a strange expression for her. Funnily enough, you weren’t worried. You weren’t scared. You weren’t sad. You weren’t _anything,_ because without _him_ there was no you. There was no existence without your other half, and that was what he was.

 

This was a bad idea.

 

This was a terrible idea.

 

This was a monumentally idiotic idea.

 

This _is_ a fucking awful idea.

 

“Do it.”

 

Your voice sounds scratchy, rough. You wonder when the last time you tried to drink was. Probably a long time ago.

 

They both nod, almost in perfect sync. How odd they were acting. Was it worry, or were their hearts splitting painfully as well, without him to guide you all? You could see another, from the corner of your eye, but whoever they were, they were not _him,_ and if they were not _him_ then you did not care who the hell they were.

 

_Your vision began spiralling into darkness, unease filling the stale air. Once it consumed you completely you felt your worn, scarred body drop to the ground like a boneless doll, but it did not matter at this current time. You were no longer attached to that. You no longer needed that body, the slightly muscled, short figure in the blue hood and the unfixable mess of black hair. The pale face, expression melted into a small, almost unreadable frown. It was grey now, no energy (soul?) residing within it. You felt a small tug as a shape, a body with a light that was a soft purple began carrying your vessel away._

_And then there was another pull on you, a different one. You cast your gaze sideways, although you didn’t turn. There was no need for turning when you had no physical body. There were three more bodies here, one a dark teal and the other a bright, almost blinding neon green. You wondered faintly what it would be like to absorb that bright light into yourself, make it yours._

_You reached out with your mind and began to assess how easy it would be to simply take ov-_

**-oh gosh this is a nightmare :( what if this doesnt work what if john cant do it but he loves dave so if anyone can do it he can but separating your soul from your bodys a really bad idea-**

_You withdrew from the bright light._

_No._

_Jade._

_Her name was Jade._

_You turned your attention to your surroundings just as you saw the teal light pulse slightly, catching your gaze. You shifted closer, curious in a blunt sort of way. Maybe this one was of some use to you? You reached for it as it pulsed again, and you grabbed at it._

**-COM3 ON JOHN YOU GR34T B1G 4SSH4T DON’T G1V3 1N TO TH3 D3S1R3S OF B31NG 4 SOUL-**

_‘terezi?’_

**-Y3S 1TS M3-**

_‘whats going on?’_

**-ON3 1MPORT4NT COOLK1D. R3M3MB3R?-**

_‘…dave.’_

_‘where is he?’_

**-FOLLOW M3, B1G H3RO-**

_The teal light pulsed again lightly, before it began moving, opening a barrier that you had not previously noticed. You trailed after it as it made its way down a tunnel. The grey of the place was almost shocking, and you continued to observe silently as another barrier was lifted and the teal light led you past more lights. Entranced, you reached for a soft, dark green one, but the teal light had kept moving in this time and you found yourself drifting after it still. The dark green could wait until later._

_You didn’t pass any more lights for a long time, although really time had no concept here. Even still, you knew of impatience that you had experienced before, and a small flicker of it shifted through you. But that did not matter. You were here to fix something, to be a reason. Even if you no longer recalled what this particular calling was- it did not matter. You were here to be guided by the teal light to your destination, the place you were supposed to be._

_Which was where?_

_You had known, once upon a moment, but now it had drifted from you, much like the fragments of your identity that had faded away as you were removed from your vessel._

_As you returned your attention to the present, you realised the teal light had gone. Where was it? You continued a few distances down the grey, grey corridor, and that was when you spotted it._

_The purple light. It was pulsating, and you grabbed at it, curious._

**-THOSE MOTHERFUCKERS are going TO GET FUCKED up where is tavbro-**

_You were yanked away from the purple light, and you could feel barely contained fury emanating from the teal light as it glowed angrily. You would have frowned if you had a face, wondering what she was revealing so much emotion for._

_-_ **DON’T GO N34R _H1M_ , 3GB3RT! COM3 ON 4LR34DY!-**

_You would have sighed if you had a mouth. That purple light was so chaotic it was delicious. However, you’d only drained a tiny bit of its energy, and it soon faded from your view, back down the tiny corridor (vent?) it had came from. You watched it leave, a feeling of almost disappointment just out of your reach._

**-COM3 ON, H3RO. W3’R3 4LMOST TH3R3.-**

_The last door was opened, and the first thing you noticed is that it was almost empty. In so many ways. The teal light gestured to the room, and stayed outside the door, waiting._

_You drew closer to the vessel lying in the center of the room. It was so still, the body so silent and grey, you were almost sure it was empty. Then a tiny flicker caught your attention, and you let yourself float down until you were closer to the tiny light. It was red, a beautiful dark red, something that made you yearn for something you could not name. But it also made you unbearably sad, the first real emotion you’d sustained since you had become this frame of mind, this soul._

_‘dave.’_

_You wanted to protect that tiny flicker._

_You wanted to nourish it, to fill it with your own light._

_You wanted…no, that wasn’t the word._

_You **needed** to save him. _

_‘i’m ready, terezi.’_

**_### ####_ **

“Wake up!”

 

“Hey!”

 

“ _Johnathan Egbert,_ get the fuck _up!”_

A sharp pain stung in your face, and you squinted open one eye, glaring at the blurry shape above you. Your body was heavy, as is it was weighted down, and everything seemed darker than before. You let out a groan, and used your one working eye to blink up at Jade. You’d never noticed how beautiful she was before this, your ecto-sister. Her green eyes were wide behind her round glasses, and her hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail so it was out of her way. Even though you couldn’t read the inscription of her shirt, you knew without a doubt it was one of Karkat’s. Normally you’d make some kind of crack about the two of them- but one, you were too tired, and two, that was kind of gross.

 

“That was mean,” you croaked. She frowned back at you, looking like a worried mother. A weak cackle sounded from nearby, and you knew without turning your head to look that Terezi was crouched next to you. She didn’t sound as bad as you were, but still a little shaken. Then again, she had proclaimed herself a master of this type of thing.

 

“You okay, TZ?” The question was unthinkingly out of your mouth before you could help it and you clapped a hand over your mouth, both your eyes opening in shock. There was a long, pregnant silence before you let out a long sigh and Terezi cackled again, less crackly this time.

 

“Come on, Egbert. Let the coolkid interrupt our heartfelt conversation.”

 

But it was gone as soon as it had arrived.

 

“I…give me a mirror.”

 

Jade glanced at you sympathetically and motioned with one hand to someone out of your field of vision. As you turned your head, unused to the movement and how light it was, your shaded vision landed on a pale head. Rose gave a faint curve of her black lips (and gosh, you’d never been so happy to see that smile) and stepped closer, holding up a handheld mirror for you, and plucking the aviators from your face. You blinked a few times to steady your vision and let your gaze flicker along the body you now resided in.

 

The first thing that hit you was how pale he really was. The freckles splattered across his face stood out starkly in contrast to his pearly skin. His hair wasn’t much better, a golden-white mess that hung into his eyes. The shades were in Rose’s left hand, digging into the gold-rimmed frames, but he looked so vulnerable without them. His frame was wire-thin, yet somehow lightly muscled in all its lean glory.

 

But there were differences.

 

Raven black had corrupted the white-blonde tips of his hair, his perfect hair, and the normally flat locks were now sticking up in the centre. The pale skin of his chest was scarred in places it shouldn’t be, places he had not taken any wounds, and unmarked in places he had been. The worst part was the eyes.

 

They were a soft, almost luminous blue, the colour of the sky before nightfall.

 

“Do you really think this can bring him back?”

 

“Well, it is currently our best bet.”

 

You turned to Kanaya, who had entered the room at some point, and watched as she sat beside you, clasping one of your hands in her own delicate luminous ones. Your vision was unobscured by the frames of your glasses, and for the first time you noticed the faint glow around her cheeks. While she’d managed to gain some control over it with time, there was still a little of the shine in her face and gentle hands.

 

“You were the only one with the chance of the favourable outcome. If you can keep his body alive while kindling his spirit back to life, he may just wake up. After all, there is nothing wrong with him physically.”

 

You nod, the motion jerky. “I know.”

 

“Remember, we’re not quite sure what’s keeping him locked up in that great big thinkpan of his, so you might get into some trouble.”

 

You nodded in Terezi’s direction, acknowledging her comment. Apparently she was the only one that could assist you, her Seer of Mind powers awakening the moment they’d ‘saved the world’ (which was a load of bullshit).

 

“I can do this.”

 

**_### ####_ **

****

** -END OF ACT 1 PART 1- **

** \- BEGIN ACT 1 INTERMISSION 1- **

****

**_### ####_ **

****

“Are you this is going to work?”

 

Terezi raised an eyebrow above her gleaming shades and made an unreadable face at Jade’s own concerned one. Rose sat at the table, one hand on the bootleg vodka, watching them talk in hushed tones. Terezi reached for the Skittles on the table and meticulously picked out a couple of red ones before shoving them into her mouth. Once the game had ended, strangely enough, her vision had slowly faded away until she was blind once more. Apparently everyone was happier that way; especially her.

 

“I already told you, I don’t know! I never god tiered, so I don’t have a full grasp of my aspect. But I think so.”

 

“Well, Terezi, that’s not good enough!”

 

Rose looked away from the distressed tears that were beginning to streak down Jade’s face. Unlike the dark-haired girl, she understood that Dave needed this, that _John_ needed this. And, truthfully, where would they be without the cocky blonde coolkid to guide them? Dirk wasn’t anything like him, not really, so he was unable to fill the gap in their hearts. Anyway, he’d left the area a while ago, taking Rose’s own mother with him due to some dispute between the Strider boy and Jade’s grandfather. The other two from had stayed- although they kept their distance. No one was really brave enough to speak to them aside from Jade. Rose herself was metaphorically jumping at the chance to examine their psyche, but it was indecorous to do that so soon after the trauma with the sword.

 

“I think, provided John wants to do this, we should take this chance,” Rose commented finally. Terezi shoved a handful of skittles into her mouth and grinned broadly, her sharp teeth stained all colours of the rainbow. Jade frowned deeply and went to object, but as she opened her mouth Terezi butted in.

 

“Sooner rather than later, coolkid’s sister!”

 

“As you wish. Let us go and propose the idea to John, shall we?”

 

**_### ####_ **

****

** -END OF ACT 1 INTERMISSION 1- **

****

**A/N((For maximum effect begin playing ‘The Wolf’ by Fever Ray now))**

****

** -BEGIN ACT 1 PART 2- **

****

**_### ####_ **

****

**_“_** **** _Eyes black, big paws and_  
it's poison and  
it's blood   
and big fire, big burn,”

****

_“Bro, bro, please stop. This isn’t cool,” the little blonde begged, his eyes wide and fearful from behind his pointed shades._

_He was so thin, and you assumed he could be no older than ten. He held a sword, far too big for him, between himself and the man standing in front of him. The man himself was almost ridiculously tall, a grey cap pulled down over his eyes. The same angular shades were perched on his nose, but on him they were far more intimidating. He was also holding a sword, however it was obvious that he actually knew how to use in with the light, focused stance he had taken. His expression was flat, completely devoid of any emotion he may have held once, far different to the terrified wine-red stare, visible behind the shades of the younger boy._

_The younger took in a loud, sobbing breath, loud in the tangible Texas heat, and that seemed to cue the older to strike. He lunged, his grey and white figure a blur as the loud clash of metal-on-metal rang through the air. The smaller blonde barely managed to block the blow, his pale arms wobbling visibly as he tried to hold his own against the bigger, older, and stronger man. However, this didn’t seem to deter his adversary, because the man was off again, slashing his blade in focused strikes that were almost impossible to see if you weren’t looking for it. The little boy edged away, just narrowly missing the sharp object slicing him up. Even as he blocked weakly, he was still calling out to his brother._

_“Bro, stop it!”_

_The boys’ glasses were knocked aside, making a sharp cracking sound as they hit the solid wall of concrete. Crimson eyes somehow got even wider than before and the boy backed up a step, looking afraid._

_…crimson eyes?_

**_“Into the ashes,_ **

**_And no return,”_ **

_Oh._

_The realisation hit you like a brick wall, bringing your consciousness from the depths with a hard yank, your focus returning. That was_ Dave _. That tiny, helpless boy was the same as that confident, aloof individual with the Ben Stiller aviators and the unabashed love for shitty remixes he had attempted all alone. You felt yourself be a little taken aback. What exactly was his brother trying to do to him?!  Sure, you’d heard of the Strider brothers’ famous strifes before, but this was taking it too far. And what the hell was that music in the background? It sounded maniacal, as if it was summoning some demon from the depths of hell, or deeper. You felt a chill run down your spine, even though you had no feeling in any of your limbs._

_The undersized Dave let out a cry as the sleeve of his shirt was torn apart. He flinched as a thin trail of blood appeared, darkening the crimson sleeves of the cloth. You echoed Dave’s next yelp, as he stumbled back, his unsteady feet getting dangerously close to the edge of the roof, perching precariously in his beaten red sneakers. Despite being a distance from the blonde, you could hear the ragged, nearly-sobbing breaths he was gasping as if he were right beside you. If only there was something you could do! You tried moving, fighting to get close and to help him, to protect him, but it was like trying to navigate through quicksand._

**_“We took you out,_ **

**_From your mother’s womb,_ **

**_Our temple, your tomb,”_ **

_“Dave!”_

_Your yell seemed to penetrate through the wall you were trapped behind, and echo around the sky eerily but clearly, and for a split second those blood-coloured eyes flickered up, a faint shimmer of recognition in his eyes. Your gaze met and you felt a smile drifting up from the depths of your chest, happiness bursting forth._

_You’d forgotten about Bro._

_Dave let out a shocked, heart-wrenching noise as the katana sliced into his chest. As it pierced skin and bone, there was a startlingly sharp ripping, tearing noise, and you screamed as he dropped bonelessly to the hard concrete, the loud thump echoing in your ears. You clapped your hands over the side of your head in the hopes of stifling that horrible noise but it was as if it had been drilled directly into your brain. You tried to close your eyes to halt the sight of the blood soaking into the dust layered onto the floor._

**-R3M3MB3R TO H3LP H1M 4ND NOT H1ND3R H1M BLU3B3RRY-**

_Help and not hinder._

_Help and not_

_Help and_

_Help_

_HELP_

**_HELP_ **

****

**_“Can be your pick,_ **

**_Not pawned,”_ **

****

_Your head snapped back up almost painfully, but you couldn’t die in the depths of Dave Strider’s mind, and neither could he. You glanced around roughly. Bro was standing in front of Dave’s motionless body, and as you watched he yanked the katana from the younger boy’s chest with a disgusting noise and stood to the left. He lifted the sword slowly, lining it up with the pale neck bared to him. You willed yourself forward, to interfere, but you were still stuck as a bystander here, it seemed. What could you do?_

_You could speak._

_Speak._

_As Bro swung the sword down, you willed all the power in your lungs forward to this moment. Your hands clapped over your eyes as you screamed out, the words forming in your throat without you thinking them and bursting free._

_“ **STRIFE, DAVE!”**_

****

_The silence was deafening. You peeked between your fingers, and saw something that made you choke out a relieved, weak laugh._

_Dave Strider was standing there in all his glory. The tiny, injured boy was gone, and in his place was the Knight of Time. A red shirt with the clockwork logo on it was clinging to his lean chest, revealing all the muscle he’d gained from years of fighting, and his black skinny jeans were unripped. The aviators you’d bought him so long ago were perched on his nose, framing that perfect tiny smirk that curled his lips. He was so breathtakingly beautiful you felt a few tears prick at your vision. Somehow, he had halted the path of Bro’s katana with a single slender finger, and there it stayed as he glanced over at where you were standing._

_“Thanks for the wake-up call, Egderp,” he said finally, a broken sword with strange wing designs flickering in its hilt materializing in his other hand. Bro seemed to break out of the frozen state he’d been in and attacked once more, his body hazy, although this time there was a similar blur to Dave as he blocked the attacks and made a few of his own. You couldn’t see what was happening, the two of them were so fast, but you heard the solid crack from below the apartment roof, and raised your head once more._

_Neither Striders were around._

_Panic surged through you. Had you seriously screwed up that quickly? Had you lost already? Movement flowed through you, and you dashed to the edge of the roof. Fearfully, you gazed over the edge, and saw Bro’s hat sitting down in the trash by the street._

_Did that mean…?_

_“Not bad for your first time.”_

_You turned instantly, almost diving into Dave’s arms. He caught you with a grunt, taking a step back. You grinned up at him, excited beyond belief, but then you noticed the way he was flickering, like bad television reception.  You frowned up at him._

_“But…but didn’t I…?”_

_“Level one.”_

_“Oh,” well, now your mood was officially ruined. “How many are there?”_

_Dave brushed a stray bang away from your eyes, a small smile on his face. “Fucked if I know, man, I’m more screwed than you are.” You let out a small hum in agreement, and pouted up at him._

_“What are you looking at me like that for?”_

_“Are you gonna disappear like, right this second?”_

_“Not yet.”_

_“Good,” because your lips pressed up against his softly in that moment, and his grip on your hair tightened fractionally as he reciprocated almost desperately, although the caress remained chaste and gentle. You gripped his shirt tightly, not wanting to let go but at the same time knowing in your heart that you would have to sooner rather than later._

_“I love you.”_

_“Love you too, Egderp.”_

_When you opened your eyes again, he was gone, and your arms were empty. Your lips felt cold, and you turned back to the sword lying on the roof. It was Bro’s katana, and it shimmered with a strange light. You approached it warily, kneeling beside it to inspect it closer. When you looked at the blade, you could see tiny flickers of flames dancing in the steel._

_Oh._

_You reached for it, and as your fingers touched it a burning sensation spread up your arm and blackness consumed you._

**_### ####_ **

****

** -END ACT 1- **

****

**_### ####_ **


End file.
